In a match lasting an hour and 26 minutes, Scheepers was outgunned in the aces department (3-0) and also had the misfortune of being double-faulted on six occasions compared to her opponent’s one.

She had the higher first service percentage at 73% compared to 69% it was her second service that let her down as she could only win five of 17 second service points.

Scheepers, seeded 15th for the $220,000 grass-court tournament, saw her WTA ranking fall from 65th to 89th in the last week. At last week’s French Open she was beaten in the second round after having reached the fourth round in 2010.

Watson, on the other hand, improved her ranking, breaking into the top 100 (93) after being 117th in last week’s rankings.